I’ve been taking part in a huge online story thing. I don’t actually know what it’s called, but it’s organised by Write Path International Connections, and I provided a 200-word story starter. It was a product of a slightly-tired brain, so it contained all kinds of threads and angles that could have been developed – … More Story starter, children finisher!
It’s been a couple of weeks since I last blogged. But those two weeks have been eventful, in some good and some bad ways. Firstly: the good. Well, actually I can’t tell you the good. Because then I’d have to kill you. But both good things are to do with books, and one of them … More Two nice secrets and a bout of yuck
A very quick shout-out to everyone I met this evening on Kate Forsyth’s Cotswolds writing course at the Lygon Arms in the beautiful village of Broadway! Great to meet you guys, and I wish you all the best with your writing endeavours 🙂
It’s a funny ol’ business, publishing. Flipping heck, it can be tough. And I DON’T just mean the parties 😉 Recently, I’ve been floundering a bit. Having finished two major projects and sent them out, I’m feeling kind of adrift. There’s no news yet, and there may not be for a while, but the rejections … More Ssssh! I’m NOT writing a new book for kids!
A few months ago, I went to the Little Star Writers Festival in Richmond, and while I was there I met Mel, who runs the company. What a fantastic organisation! Oh, if only someone had been running creative writing workshops after school when I was young… Today I’m blogging over on the LSW site about … More Guest blog for Little Star Writers on realistic dialogue
So, they’ve gone. My literary novel for 9-12s about lemons (see previous post) and my Big Collaborative Project that involves Superheroes – they are OUT. Poof! Into the ether that is SUBMISSION SPACE! In other words, I now have two BIG books doing the rounds with publishers, as well as an early reader. That’s more … More Clearing the decks: time for a new project
I’m revising a novel. It’s one I wrote last year, and my agent read it and liked it but wanted me to make some changes. And because I hate editing and rewriting, I put it off and wrote something else instead. And while I was waiting for my agent to read the other thing, I … More Why revising a novel is like juicing a lemon
I love reading kids’ stories. They don’t know the so-called ‘rules’ of storytelling: that each story should have a beginning, middle and end, that the hero/ine should face obstacles, that you ‘should’ use lots of descriptive language, that you should never start a sentence with ‘and’ or ‘but’. They just WRITE. On Monday I returned … More Writers of the future
I’m rubbish at plots, I really am. I simply cannot think of things to happen to people. I don’t know why this is my weak area, because I have plenty of imagination, but I just don’t have that stream of ‘then this happens, then this, then THAT could happen…’ Characters, yes. Atmosphere, pacing, rhythm – … More Miracles inside my mind…
Last time I wrote, I was in the dumps. And to be honest, the days and week or so that followed were HARD WORK. A not-very-enjoyable part of being a writer. I started the manuscript again, the one that wasn’t working. And it was SLUDGY. Very, very hard going, and kind of BORING. I BORED … More On the Up again…!
Jo Cotterill 